Four new Supreme Court judges to take oath on Monday, strength to reach 34

Source: dnaindia.com

Four new Supreme Court justices will take oath on Monday, taking the strength of India’s highest court to 34. The Centre had on September 18 notified the appointment of four new judges to the Supreme Court. 

Justices V Ramasubramanian, Krishna Murari, S Ravindra Bhat and Hrishikesh Roy – all four chief justices of different high courts in the country – will take oath at as Supreme Court judges on Monday.

After the appointment of new judges, the Supreme Court will have 33 judges besides the Chief Justice of India. The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill was passed by Parliament last month and President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent soon after.

After the law came into force, the Supreme Court on August 28 collegium recommended the names of V Ramasubramanian, Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh; Krishna Murari, Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court; SA Ravindra Bhat, Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court and Hrishikesh Roy, Chief Justice of Kerala.

This comes amid the decision that the Supreme Court will have single-judge benches hearing and deciding cases related to bail, anticipatory bail and transfer petitions. The crucial move ordered by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi is intended to bring down the pendency of cases in the court.

Currently, a minimum of two judges preside over cases in the apex court which has 59,616 cases pending. Two additional courtrooms have also been created in SC, taking the number to 17. The new courtrooms are expected to function from Monday.

CJI Ranjan Gogoi, who has many firsts to his credit, took the bold move by amending the Supreme Court Rules 2013 by using his power under Article 145 of the Constitution. It states: “The Supreme Court may, from time to time, with the approval of the President, make rules for regulating the practice and procedure of the Court.” 

The amendment got the President’s assent and was subsequently notified in the Gazette on September 18, 2019. So far, single judges sat in chambers to prepare cases for hearing but could not pass a binding order.